Games News: Releases

[Johnny]

As far as another GTA on the PS2 is concerned, obviously there's a ridiculous amount lot of money to be made just from getting out a new game.
On the other hand, you've only got take a look through some of the dozens of GTA dedicated fansites out there to realise that there is enough people who will be ecstatic to have just a new map, new missions and a few added features. If that's worth £40 to them, why shouldn't they have another?

And they've had two years to iron out the problems you've rightly mentioned - if they don't manage it this time (they failed to improve things in Vice), then it will be a bit lame but......let's see what it looks like when it's finished. Vice City was still a fucking incredible game and that's good enough for me.

The PS2 is limited in technical scope but there's still room for San Andreas. If one map eg. Liberty City will do you, don't buy it. If you want another map & missions and it's a good game, fill your boots.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I know it's asking for the moon on a stick, but one thing that would make GTA the most amazing experience ever (think doing heroin while having sex and having a nice poo x1000) would be if all of the houses, buildings, etc, were accessable, and each one had something different going on, like a family watching telly or whatever. Also, the ability to interact with other people who are walking around, rather than just knocking them off their rollerskates or killing them with a chainsaw.
It will happen, eventually. And will be so real you won't ever have to leave the house again. Look at the progress that's been made in the past 20 years:

[Rubbish Monkey]

im not keen on the roumours that 50 cent and eminememem are in it.... although they are more than likely to be just voice actors disapointing compared with who they got for VC so far, I wonder who else they will get.

I like the idea of bicycles tho. Cant wait to knock them fuckers flying.

[hencole]

Yep ,TV's have got bigger alright.

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

Ninja Gaiden is out next week (Xbox), so prepare yourself for the hardest game since the original Broken Sword titles.

Half the reviews I've read knock a point or so off because of the insane difficulty level, but one has rated it higher than Halo, saying the structure of the levels and the menu interface is VERY similar.

The original (brilliant, brilliant) 2D Arcade Ninja Gaiden titles are unlockable too, though you have to work very, very hard for them

HAH I'm extremely cynical about this claim, and while I'd like to play Ninja Gayboy I don't have an Xbox.
So there's me scuppered. That said the lead character design is shit and boring.

They said Shinobi and Kunoichi were difficult and I thought those were ok- except for the obligatory final boss. pfeh.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yep ,TV's have got bigger alright.

I knew someone was going to say that

Wasn't Ninja Gaiden called 'Shadow Warriors' in the UK?
I remember it was the first Spectrum game to use a new graphics effect so it could utilise 'lots' of colours. Check it out:



Okay, so it looks poo now but back then it was the cat's pyjamas

[Johnny]

Bit of San Andreas news:

There will be three (count 'em) new cities spread across the state of San Andreas:

Los Santos - based on LA
San Fieero - like San Francisco
Las Venturra - based on Vegas.

Each city will be around the same size as Vice City and they'll be inter-connected with "country-side". The entire game will be 4-6 times larger than any of it's predecessors.

From Sam Houser at Rockstar:

"...one of the things we missed in Vice City was hills. The idea that you will be able to drive from LA, through the countryside, up a mountain (yes, a mountain!) into San Francisco and on to Vegas is just freakish, and it feels amazing!"

From Game Informer:

They have done more to the graphics engine to tweak it, so don't worry. Also mentioned was that the desert isn't just an empty place with a cactus here and dirt there...but "there's still some weird s*** to see and the map feels very vibrant and alive."

Smog will be present to give LA the right feel. Expect "real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, as well as new techniques like radial lighting, which allows for more realistic shadowing, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels," said Game Informer. Everything in the game now has independent models for day and night to give better lighting and shadowing.

Expect a lot more buildings with open interiors. But here is a bigger thing: "In Las Ventura, you'll be able to run a casino there, which you will have bought and built," said Houser.



If that's a cash-in, they're being bloody generous with it. Pictures here:

http://www.gtagaming.com

[El Unicornio, mang]

Fucking hell, if all that is true this really is going to be the greatest gaming experience ever!!! i'm practically wetting myself with anticipation! (not really)

[Evil Knevil]

It sounds good, but fix the mission structure dammit!

[Regular John]

Oh sweet jesus that sounds like a superb sequel. Robbing houses and building a casino will be insane!

Hopefully some David Lynch style desert antics will take place between Las (Vegas) Ventura and the other cities!

[El Unicornio, mang]

One thing I don't get, why do they change the city names? Are they worried about lawsuits or is it so they can make up their own maps?

- In the Las Vegas city, you will be able to buy and build a casino - and then run it.
- You can then gamble your money in the casino.
- Your character can dual wield pistols and potentially other weapons.
- You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.
- You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however.
- You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by's. (seen here)

:-)))

[Rev]

One thing I don't get, why do they change the city names? Are they worried about lawsuits or is it so they can make up their own maps?

The car names are changed for legal reasons, but I think that they change the city names so that they can take liberties with the layout, and also to add to the cartoonish, slightly-detached-from-reality feel to the thing.

One thing I'm really looking forward to with this one is the ability to recruit a 'gang' and take them on missions with you.  That's a fantastic touch which will add loads of re-play possibilities.

[The Region Legion]

Jesus Christ! This sounds like it could be the best GTA yet. Shame I'm going to have to wait a year before the PC version.

[El Unicornio, mang]

One thing I'm not sure of is being black in the game, not to be racist, I just like to control characters that I feel could be me, if you know what I mean (by the same token, I don't like playing games where you're a woman or an alien or whatever, I just don't feel 'involved' enough. In fact, even playing Hitman I found a bit off putting because of him being bald. Maybe I'm just odd.).  On the flipside, it's good to see a black lead character in a game, it must get a bit annoying if you're of a different colour and all the lead characters in games are white (bar American sports games, obviously)
Should be easy enough to change it though, on the PC at least.

I can't believe how big this is going to be. Vice City was massive I thought, still get lost all the time when I'm driving around there.

[Rev]

One thing I'm not sure of is being black in the game

Oh, behave.  I've been reading the message board at GameFAQs, which seems to have turned into Stormfront since the screenshots were released.  My favourite post was from someone who really wanted the main character to be able to swim in new game, eliminating the annoying instant-death-on-contact-with-water thing.  All out of the window now, of course, because as he says, 'blacks can't swim'.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yeah, I was always annoyed a bit about not being able to swim. Having said that, I can't swim, so it's quite realistic for me.

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

Surely GAME OVER isn't displayed in the air above the scene of your intimely demise when you step into the sea is it?

[Munday's Chylde]

One thing I'm not sure of is being black in the game, not to be racist, I just like to control characters that I feel could be me, if you know what I mean (by the same token, I don't like playing games where you're a woman or an alien or whatever, I just don't feel 'involved' enough. there.

If it's anything like the previous GTA's the cheatcodes will be online months before the game is released and they usually enable you to play as any character that inhabits that particular GTA world.

I bet they do let him swim, it seems to be the biggest complaint to the other gta's

Can I just be the zillionth person to say... THREE CITIES ALL THE SAME SIZE AS VICE CITY????!! FUCK ME!

[El Unicornio, mang]

There's an interesting BBC documentary about Vice City available for download here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/40108000/rm/_40108979_frontline_vi.ram

The quality is poor, but it's worth watching, presenting valid arguments from both sides about whether Vice City is responsible for kids comitting murder in real life. Although it has to be said that the lawyers trying to sue Rockstar for millions seem utterly ridiculous, especially when one of the lawyers bursts into a song he wrote about Vice City

[The Region Legion]

OK, OK, Enough already! I'll give Manhunt a second go you barstewards.

On the strength of what everyone on here was saying about it, I picked it up a few days ago (which was a bit stupid of me considering I had only bought Hitman 3 about a week ago, that's £60 on 2 games in the space of a week or so.. idiocy).

It's great, but the first 4 levels are just shit. Shit and boring. It's only once you get into that abandoned zoo and find a gun that things start getting interesting... the first time I blew a guys head off with that shotgun thing.... amazing.

I haven't seen any twists whatsoever yet and I'm onto Level 11 (of 12, I think?) - I can't decide if I'm going to keep it or take it back because I get the impression its replay value will be low. It has been most enjoyable since Level 4 though, recommended.

[Regular John]

One thing I'm not sure of is being black in the game, not to be racist, I just like to control characters that I feel could be me, if you know what I mean (by the same token, I don't like playing games where you're a woman or an alien or whatever, I just don't feel 'involved' enough. In fact, even playing Hitman I found a bit off putting because of him being bald. Maybe I'm just odd.).  On the flipside, it's good to see a black lead character in a game, it must get a bit annoying if you're of a different colour and all the lead characters in games are white (bar American sports games, obviously)
Should be easy enough to change it though, on the PC at least.

I can't believe how big this is going to be. Vice City was massive I thought, still get lost all the time when I'm driving around there.

Blacks are lazy and they cheat.

[El Unicornio, mang]

BUMP

A load more new screenshots from GTA: San Andreas here:
http://www.codenamesa.co.uk/content.asp?page=screenshots

and a preview of the game from someone who's played it here:
http://www.gtagaming.com/sanandreas/ps2uk

Both from Playstation2 UK magazine

[Borboski]

I have been honing my UT2004 skills in the last few days. Clearly some people are too good, and a lot of them arseholes.

But... I am very interested in this;

http://www.dawnofwargame.com/

I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I used to love Games Workshop as I kid, geek that I was, although now I understand that they are rip-off merchants gleefully exploiting the under 15s.

Also of note is that Half-Life and CounterStrike will be re-released with the new engine which should be nice to look at.

[Rev]

Does anybody know anything about 'campfire'? I'm still waiting for it.

Still no news which is a shame. It looks a great idea and with SH4: The Room, Resi 4 and The Suffering all due soonish too this year could be a great one for horror games.

I'll kick the flabby arse of this thread up the stairs, just to answer this question.

The game is either finished, or in a very late stage of development.  The problem is that Sony (who were to publish it) chickened out at the beginning of the year.  They were worried about the reaction it would get in the US (where video game violence and nipples are apparently the causes of all evils), and so Campfire is 'back on the market'.  It'll find a home eventually, but the reason we haven't heard much about it is because there's nobody to give it the marketing push yet.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Doom 3 is now due out on August 3. This is apparently the final official date. Of course it only applies to North America, the rest of you get to wait as usual.

EDIT: Looks like the UK release isn't that far off, it's already got a BBFC classification. It got an 18, which means there'll be lots of blood caked all over everything and probably a fair number of edgy upside-down crucifixes.

In other news it looks like GTA San Andreas will add the ability to drag Devo from the back of your car.

[terminallyrelaxed]

Its not really a new release, but I just bought XIII from Game for £19.99 - and I'm really enjoying it. Not too hard so far and I like the way its built up on the first few levels subtly, was half an hour in before I noticed the soundtrack had slowly come in. Its really very playable - I was a bit worried that I wasnt up for linear games anymore, but so far its great fun.

Oh, I read this week that Half Life 2 would be out in August, but I don't remember where or how credible the source seemed....

[Marcus Or Relius]

http://www.dawnofwargame.com/

I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I used to love Games Workshop as I kid, geek that I was, although now I understand that they are rip-off merchants gleefully exploiting the under 15s.

Me too, I spent eight-years worth of pocket money on lead minatures. I went into the GW store in the Arndale Centre the other day and was just stunned at how fucking expensive it is now! Parents of youths into it these days must re-mortgage their house when their WH40K-addicted offspring suggests he might like a box of ten Terminator Space Marines for Christmas.

Anyway, the game looks smart, hopefully better than the Epic War I picked up a couple of years ago. I never did have a go of the Space Hulk game though.

[Rubbish Monkey]

Its not really a new release, but I just bought XIII from Game for £19.99

quick take it back!

its £9.99 in the play.com summer sale

[Regular John]

Its not really a new release, but I just bought XIII from Game for £19.99

quick take it back!

its £9.99 in the play.com summer sale

Forbidden Siren on the PS2 is only £17.99!

http://www.forbidden-siren.com/ is one of the best promotional sites I've ever seen, definitely explore it even if you aren't a survival horror fan!

[Rubbish Monkey]

Forbidden Siren is a class game. Shame about the dubbing.

I just got Red Dead Revolver for my PS2 and Sim City for my little Game Boy Advance. I had forgotten how mush of an addictive game it is. Pre-ordered Wings on the GBA too. Its out on 03/09/2004 according to play. Who also have a release date of 29/10/2004 for Pro Evolution Soccer 4!!

Prince of Persia is only £9.99 on there too. Oh and HMV have Soul Caliber 2 for a bargin £7.99 which I am ashamed to say I don't have yet but will be trotting off to there tomorrow.